Audi has ruled for 14 years, but for many Porsche is still the true king of Le Mans. Now – finally – it returns. Racing’s most anticipated comeback is on
Writer Gary Watkins
It started off as a sabbatical: Porsche was only meant to be absent from the top of the sports car racing tree for one year. Now, 15 seasons after its withdrawal from top-line endurance racing, the German manufacturer is...

In 34 years as a technical chief at Porsche, Norbert Singer oversaw a host of successful sports-racing cars. His retirement from the company last year gave him an opportunity to look back with Gary Watkins at the models he masterminded...
Porsche Carrera RSR:
Career: 1973-87
Major wins: Daytona 1973, '75 & '77; Sebring '73, '76 & '77; Targa Florio '73; World Championship 4; IMSA 37...

A car's greatness can be measured not just in results but also by the memories it triggers. Some of the 956/962's famous operators tell David Malsher what this car means to them
At the end of 1981, I went to see Professor [Helmut] Bott of Porsche. He said, Well, Derek, we would like you to drive for us next year. We are building a monocoque chassis; we have never done that before. We are putting...

In 60 years the Stuttgart firm has produced some glorious cars. Picking the 10 best models would be tricky enough, but the 10 best individual chassis? Time to turn to a true Porsche expert…
By Michael Cotton
There was a time when I did not care for Porsches at all. There, heresy confessed! My school exercise books were covered in drawings of Ferrari and Maserati Grand Prix cars, beautiful front-...

Porsche 911 R RSRSR, by John Starkey. Veloce, £40.
Everything you could wish to know about the racing 911 Porsches, stopping just short of the outrageous 935. Starkey covers the technical facts minutely, but lightens this with much verbatim personal recollection from drivers, builders and team personnel, including Norbert Singer, Porsche's development engineer, drivers John Fitzpatrick and Nick...

"Economy Racing" Era to End
In October the Group C sports car formula will follow Formula One into the new decade, ruled by 3.5-litre normally aspirated engines. The `economy' era, dictated by the need to make 51 litres of fuel last 100 kilometres, will be ended to the delight of most drivers but the mechanism to equalise the performances of production block, racing, turbocharged and normally...

— a cliff-hanger
Maybe Jochen Mass made the most prophetic remark after winning at Vallelunga, when he commented that the cars would get better, and the drivers would get used to driving for economy. The opening round had almost been an embarrassment as the leading cars slowed, and then slowed some more to reach the finish line on their allocation of 510 litres, 15% less than last year's 600...

With a chilling precision, Mercedes took control of the Suzuka 480 Kms race in Japan and repeated last year's 1-2 result. Jean-Louis Schlesser and Mauro Baldi won the race, just as they did last year in the same C9 model, with Jochen Mass and his young Austrian protégé Karl Wendlinger 42 seconds behind. Geoff Lees started from pole position again, in the Tom's Toyota, so a casual observer might...

Andretti at Le Mans
Mario Andrelti has tried nine times to win the Le Mans 24 Hours. He isn't racing this year, but he still wants to go back even when he's 92...
1966
There was an ulterior motive when Mario Andretti agreed a deal with Ford that would take him to the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time. It was all part of his masterplan to become a Formula One driver.
The plan had been hatched...

Thousands of Britons will cross the English Channel in June to celebrate the 50th anniversary of D-Day. How many of their descendants, though, will make the longer journey to Le Mans on June 18/19 to see fresh legends in the making?
Jaguar's army is looking for a new standard-bearer. The entente between Tom Walkinshaw and Jaguar is all but finished, and if the Scotsman ever went back it's more...